The initial findings from data collected from the Global Affairs Canada social media census (2015 and 2017) show wide variation, but suggest a trend toward greater social participation in both Twitter and Facebook accounts of Canadian foreign embassies over time. Proper statistical analysis of the data is needed to determine:
- Is account activity correlated with readership and social participation?
- To what effect does language of the account effect participation?
- To what extent are the embassies using social participation to communicate with their audience rather than simply informing them?
Some accounts that were active in 2015 have been deleted and several new accounts were created since 2015, but the accounts that existed prior to 2015 and remain in use today indicate significant increases in followers, likes and shares. Accounts with the largest increases in social participation tend to be the most active accounts with frequent and consistent information posted, while those accounts with low participation tend to have low account activity and post information intermittently with long periods of inactivity. Accounts which post information indirectly related to activities at the corresponding embassy (sports news for example) see a corresponding increase in followers, likes and shares which may be a strategy to increase social presence and entice participation, but it may also be an incidental effect.
